First Year as Senior Maths HoD: How evidence informed can I make it?

First year as Senior
Maths HoD
HOW EVIDENCE INFORMED CAN I MAKE IT?
@ollie_lovell www.ollielovell.com Education Research Reading Room (podcast on iTunes)

The question…
What can be done in one year that can have a
large impact on student learning?

Where are we going?
• Retrieval Practice
• Spaced Repetition
• Feedback
• Implementation

Before we start: Two key components of
the program
Weekly Questions
•Given to students
(with worked
solutions) at the
start of each week.
Progress Checks
•A Weekly mini-
test.

Retrieval practice (aka: the testing effect)
“If you read a piece of text through twenty times, you will not learn it by
heart so easily as if you read it ten times while attempting to recite from
time to time and consulting the text when your memory fails” - Francis
Bacon, 1620
Key paper: Nunes, L. D., & Karpicke, J. D. (2015). Retrieval‐Based Learning: Research at the Interface between Cognitive Science and Education. Emerging Trends in the
Social and Behavioral Sciences: an Interdisciplinary, Searchable, and Linkable Resource. http://doi.org/10.1002/9781118900772
“Retrieval-based learning is a prime example of how findings from basic cognitive science can
inform educational practice” (Nunes & Karpicke, 2015, p. 2).

Retrieval practice (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006)
Reference: Roediger, H. L., III, & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3),
249–255. (as presented in Nunes & Karpicke, 2015, p. 6)
SSSS SSST STTT

Retrieval practice at SC
=Progress Checks
What we’re listening for
• Weekly
• Short
• Impact?

Y12 Specialist Mathematics
Teacher G
Y12 Mathematics Methods
Teacher K
Y11 Mathematics Further
Teacher P
Y11 Mathematics Methods, Y11
Physics. Teachers R and Ollie
Videos removed

Spaced Repetition (aka: Distributed Practice)

performance on the four-week test
was virtually doubled when
students distributed 10 practice
problems across two sessions
instead of massing the same 10
problems in one session.
Question e.g.,
‘How many
combinations of
the letters abccc
exist? ‘
Reference: Rohrer, D., & Taylor, K. (2006). The effects of overlearning and distributed practice on the retention of mathematics knowledge. Applied Cognitive
Psychology, 20, 1209–1224.
“In Experiment 1…performance on the four-week test was
virtually doubled when students distributed 10 practice
problems across two sessions instead of massing the same 10
problems in one session.
In Experiment 2, students solved 3 or 9 practice problems in a
single session, but this manipulation had no effect on either
the one-week or four-week test.
The results of both experiments suggest that the
organization of practice problems in most mathematics
textbooks is one that minimizes long-term retention.”
(Rohrer & Taylor, 2006, p. 1)
‘Massers’
‘Spacers’
‘Spacers’
‘Massers’

Spaced Repetition at SC
=Progress Checks
• Content is drawn from the previous 3
weeks
• Impact?

Y12 Maths Further
Teacher P
Y12 Mathematics Further
Ollie
Y11 Mathematics Methods, Y11
Physics. Teachers R and Ollie
Y11 Gen, Methods, Spec
Teachers J, R, G
Videos removed

Before we start: Two key components of
the program (a reminder)
Weekly Questions
•Given to students
(with worked
solutions) at the
start of each week.
Progress Checks
•A Weekly mini-
test.

Feedback
Where am I
going?
• Weekly
Questions
How am I going?
• Progress
Check with
Immediate
Feedback
Where to next?
• Progress
Check
Reflection
Key paper: Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The Power of Feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81–112. http://doi.org/10.3102/003465430298487
Also see: Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. (2017). Reframing feedback to improve teaching and learning. Retrieved
from https://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/feedback/documents/aitsl-feedback-spotlight.pdf?sfvrsn=8

Feedback
Where am I
going?
• Weekly
Questions
How am I going?
• Progress
Check with
Immediate
Feedback
Where to next?
• Progress
Check
Reflection
Reference: Butler, A. C., Marsh, E. J., Slavinsky, J. P., & Baraniuk, R. G. (2014). Integrating cognitive science and technology improves learning in a STEM classroom.
Educational Psychology Review, 26(2), 331–340. p. 333
"Feedback provides learners with information that
enables them to correct errors and to improve
understanding (Hattie and Timperley 2007). Immediate
feedback is often more effective in the classroom (Kulik
and Kulik 1988)” (Butler et al., 2014)

"In the standard approach, assessment is for or of
learning. In this approach, assessment is for teaching.”
(Griffin, 2014, p. 14)

Feedback
Where am I
going?
• Weekly
Questions
How am I going?
• Progress
Check with
Immediate
Feedback
Where to next?
• Progress
Check
Reflection
Source: Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (2010). Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. Phi Delta Kappan, 92(1), 81-90.
"Tests and homework exercises can be an invaluable guide to learning, but the
exercises must be clear and relevant to learning aims. The feedback on them
should give each pupil guidance on how to improve, and each must be given
opportunity and help to work at the improvement.” (Black & Wiliam, 2010)
'the biggest effects on student learning occur when teachers become learners of their
own teaching, and when students become their own teachers.' (Hattie, 2009, p. 22)

1.What was the question?
2.What concept did this
question address? Where am I
going? Prompting students to
categorise the question, better
organising it in their mental
planning
3.Which key concept did you get
incorrect? How am I going?
Students explicitly point out the
mistake made.
4.How to do it next time?
Where to next? Students provide
a pathway to a correct response.

Feedback at SC
=Progress Checks + Reflection
• Feedback on PCs is immediate (Kulik & Kulik, 1998)
• Solutions are teacher modelled (Rosenshine, 2012)
• Students self-mark (Black & Wiliam, 2010)
• Clear understanding of the PC Reflection process

Y12 Further Mathematics
Teacher P
Y12 Specialist & Methods
Teachers G and K
Y11 General Mathematics
Teacher J
Y11 Methods &Physics.
Teachers R and Ollie
Videos removed

Feedback
StudentsTeachers

Key paper: Coe, R., Aloisi, C., Higgins, S., & Major, L. E. (2014). What makes great teaching? Review of the underpinning research.

Key paper: Coe, R., Aloisi, C., Higgins, S., & Major, L. E. (2014). What makes great teaching? Review of the underpinning research.
For a closer look go to
http://tiny.cc/olliestudentfeedback

Feedback from Ollie’s Y12 Further Mathematics Class A, Semester 1, 2017

If you have any comments on this
teacher's knowledge of the content and
how to teach it, please write them
below.
very engaging ;) // Good knowledge and understanding of content // Method of demonstrating
and then allowing us to do a question similar to the demonstrating is very good.
If you have any comments on the
quality of this teacher's instruction,
please write them below.
Continue to provide prac exams and sacs // fix question 2.6, doesn't flow very well, maybe you're
missing a so behind 'that'. // Clear and concise, elobarates when needed. Great work! :) // Ankis
cards are amazing. I love them more than myself
If you have any comments on the
atmosphere of this teacher's classroom,
or their student relations, please write
them below.
it's alright // Music? Group chat needs improvement/ more mathematical purpose. It seems as
though students are missusing the chat. // Music pls. Chat is great for memes
If you have any comments on this
teacher's classroom management,
please write them below.
Great work! Listing topics students will be covering on the board allows students to complete
tasks in an orderly manner, or get ahead in terms of completeing and revising concepts. //
Detention is scary by effective ish.
If you have any further comments or
questions in relation to this teacher,
please feel free to share them below.
Incorporate some textbook materials to further help students // great job, keep up the work. first
teacher to use anki cards. ty ollie. first teacher to use google docs. niceu~~~ most engaging
teacher i've ever met, loves his students. love ur boots kuh. // The particular way this teacher
introduces their expression of teaching is indeed engaging but rules are not as strict as they
should be. We should also consider looking back on a few more weekly questions to maximise
our potential of success for our results in the final exam. [nonsensical sentence omitted)

Validity of student feedback? Maybe…
but it isn’t all about validity.
“In the end, it all comes down to the relationship between the teacher and
the student. To give effective feedback, the teacher needs to know the
student—to understand what feedback the student needs right now. And to
receive feedback in a meaningful way, the student needs to trust the
teacher—to believe that the teacher knows what he or she is talking about
and has the student's best interests at heart. Without this trust, the student is
unlikely to invest the time and effort needed to absorb and use the feedback.”
(Wiliam, 2016, as quoted at http://evidenceforlearning.org.au/news/effective-feedback-in-action/)

Feedback: Students  Teachers
For an article describing this process in more detail:
http://tiny.cc/olliefbarticle
To see Ollie’s feedback from students in a more interactive way see:
http://tiny.cc/olliefb2017a

Implementation
Plan + Listen for
ideas and
language
Adopt/shape
language and
share
Listen for
impressions
Refine and
implement
Review and
propose
changes

Image removed

What’s different between, 2016 2017?
Teacher J:
• Recording
• Excel sheet
• Progress Test-Reflection
• Resource Folder Sharing

Teacher K:
• Weekly progress check
• Lesson plan Deliver average 10 minutes/concept then the
students work on their exercises.

Teacher P:
• Learning a lot how to use and incorporate latest technology in
our teaching/pedagogySharing resources and thoughts
• Working as a strong team
• Teaching students exactly, keeping the end result in mind
(exams) and working backwards to achieve it. (‘UBD’)
• (Ollie) Helping us by sparing time from his work load
• Great way to conduct student feedback surveys

Thank you 
@ollie_lovell
www.ollielovell.com
Education Research Reading Room
(podcast on iTunes)

First Year as Senior Maths HoD: How evidence informed can I make it?

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